


Shackle of the Past

by Okami_no_fude



Series: Linked Universe oneshots [19]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Bittersweet, Confrontation, F/M, Implied Relationships, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Not Beta Read, from a live write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23587888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami_no_fude/pseuds/Okami_no_fude
Summary: While normally the hero of Twilight can be calm and analytic during fights, he would admit that this whole time he was far from calm. He was definitely emotional.Why wouldn’t he, when he meets someone he thought he would never see ever again?
Relationships: Link & Midna (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Linked Universe oneshots [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412722
Comments: 8
Kudos: 151





	Shackle of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I should be doing something else, I should be adulting, but damn this spontaneous idea could not let me go so I had to write it.  
> And yes, it is me, and as expected, I'm writing a bittersweet fic centered around Twilight.  
> (I need more variety in my fics)
> 
> usual disclaimers:  
> [Linked Universe](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/) belongs to @jojo58630  
> Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo

It happened all of a sudden. They were in Warriors’ Hyrule, and suddenly a slew of shadow beasts came cropping out of nowhere.  
Shamefully Twilight had frozen when he saw them appear and had to be shoved aside by his mentor when the shadow beast nearest to him lunged toward him. "Now is not the time to freeze, Twilight," Time berated the frozen ranch hand as the elder hero searched his face. “I reckon you know what they are?”  
Jarred by the shove, Twilight could only give a nod. 

“Well, great! We know whose Hyrule these monsters are from, so now care to share what they are? Their weaknesses? _Anything??_ ” Someone else shouted. 

Twilight couldn’t express much but just the fact that they were heavy hitters but were also somewhat nimble and can take some hits.

“That doesn’t tell us much!”  
"Well, _excuse me_ , but there isn't anything else to say about them, except to keep the last two alive to finish them off simultaneously!" he griped out as he performed a shield bash to knock the oncoming beast off-balance. 

"And if we don't?"

"You won't like the consequences!"

\---

The waves of monsters seemed to be endless as for each one the heroes took down, another shadow beast, accompanied by a mob of twilit bokoblins took its place, which meant they had to deal with the weak but still annoying “lesser enemies”, as the captain would say. Twilight knew that they were on their last ropes, as even the hero who was used to these kinds of massive fights was wearing down. 

_We definitely need help taking down these shadow beasts in one go,_ the ranch hand thought. _But how?_

He did not have to think for long when a gigantic spear made out of black and green energy came striking down a hoard of shadow beasts and twilit bokoblins. A familiar-looking spear that dissipated with energy that he was achingly familiar with.

  
"Wha-"

"Oh, it seems that you all are in a bit of a pickle. I guess I'll pitch in," a chiming voice tinged with snark echoed across the field. A voice that Twilight sorely missed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the captain give a startled expression before it morphed into a grin. "If you could do that I would highly appreciate it, Midna!" 

_Wait._

_How does Warriors know Midna?_

He had so many questions, and he wanted to blurt them out, but the glance that the ruler of Twilight and his past companion gave him, he swallowed them. Now was not the time. But he will get his questions answered.

\---

The tables quickly turned with the newcomer/old acquaintance's arrival, and the shadow beasts were quickly dispatched thanks to the ruler of the Twilight realm's magic. As they watched the last of the defeated shadow beasts wither away, Twilight took a deep breath before approaching the lone tall form. 

"Midna." 

"...Link." she spoke softly, but firmly, not wavering even a little bit. Twilight wasn't sure what he was looking for within her tone, but couldn't read anything from it. The hero of Twilight took another deep breath before forcing out his words, willing to not have his internal turmoil spill out with it. 

"...We need to talk."

\---

The duo ended up in a small clearing in the forest, away from the others’ views; thankfully Wild and Warriors could tell that this was personal for him and not for their ears and prevented the others from snooping.

“...so, how have you been.” 

Twilight barely managed to choke in his inner turmoil and let out a neutral tone, and a casual conversation starter.

Midna sighed. “Busy with my duties.”

Her tone did not betray a single emotion. Was it because she was a ruler? Her Majesty Queen Zelda also rarely had any emotion spill out of her tone of voice; she was that skilled in putting on her political, stern, and emotionally detached mask.

Was she doing the same? Or was this her true feelings? He couldn't tell. "Does that also include those shadow beasts we just fought?" She nodded. "Anything related to Twilight magic and wrongdoings related to that is under my domain. As you know the Incident caused by the Blight that the _light-dwellers_ had ignorantly thrown into our realm," Midna inserted a jab at his world before continuing." Which caused my subjects to be cursed into those forms, it is my duty to take care of them. The fact that they escaped through that portal was my blunder. I came to fix that." Was she still resenting the people of the light realm? Did that also include him?

"Oh, you should be well aware of my answer to that Link. I _resented_ the light dwellers and the gods that stood behind them. The so-called "good people with common sense" doubted that we existed. Their attitude of thinking it wasn't a crime to be ignorant of something that is irrelevant to them exasperated me. The ones that knew about us, the protectors of Hyrule, always looked at us as we were trash, insignificant beings. They used the mirror to send the souls of the worst criminals over here, like our world was a garbage disposal." Twilight could see that Midna, while barely noticeable, tightened her already curled-up fist. 

"Did you know the grudges and malice of the souls that were sent over through the mirror is like poison to our realm?" Midna asked in a nonchalant tone, but this time Twilight could tell the simmering anger beneath it. He was a little surprised as so far Midna had been composed, but given the new information she had given him, it was justified.

"No."

"See, there you go. If it isn't relevant to you, you light-dwellers never thought to even learn of the possible consequences that others have to face because of your people's actions."

Twilight could not give a rebuttal to that, because seeing the citizens of Hyrule, he could admit that was the truth. Not for everyone, but the population of those types of people was still there.

“However," the ruler of the Twilight realm spoke softly, making him raise his head that he had unconsciously lowered in guilt and shame. “I will admit, having to go through the adventure with you and seeing the inhabitants of the light world, I came to see you all in a new light. That not everyone in the light world are what we assumed to be, and there are genuinely good people. Like you Link. You have traits that I respect.”

Something heavy that weighted in his chest seemed to lighten just a bit as the ranch hand heard Midna's admittance. He wasn't in the populace that Midna resented. But still, there was something that was still lingering in his chest.

“If you know that, why did you still cut the only connection between the two realms? Couldn’t relations between us be improved with negotiations?”

Midna gave out a small sigh as if she was tired that she had to spell out something obvious. Twilight couldn’t help but think that way and felt a twinge of pain at that sigh.

“You know most of the public sees dwellers of the opposite realms as abominations; it’s an old belief deeply rooted in our history with each other. No amount of showing otherwise would change that, especially if we are the ones saying it,” she spoke softly as she stared at the dusky sky, orange streaks painting the slowly darkening blue. “People will see us as an outlier, an exception, not a representative of the norm.”

The hero understood Midna’s logic; old beliefs are extremely hard to change, especially among the older folk. _But…_  
“But we could have still tried!! If we don’t try everything would stay the same!”

The Twilight Princess gave a small pause before replying.  
“...Light and Shadow cannot mix, I have told you this Link.”

  
Why was she beating around the bush?! Twilight couldn’t contain his inner turmoil anymore and words poured out in an agonized tone.  
“Light and shadow may not be able to mix, but light and shadows coexist! Without light, shadows won’t be created, and without shadows, the light is not defined and won’t hold meaning! I’d say what you are saying is an excuse!” The ranch hand gritted his teeth as he cried out.

“So just tell me, _why_ did you shatter the connection between our two realms? ...Even if _we_ didn’t work out, we could have still been friends and communicated with each other. Why cut everything! Is it because you hate me?!”

  
“It’s because _I love you_ that I shattered the mirror! To _protect you from misery_!”

...What? What did that _mean_ ?  
  
Midna finally turned around to look directly at Twilight. Her orange eyes were bright with a mixture of emotions; anger, frustration, and...sadness? 

“Tell me Link, if I had kept the mirror intact, how often would you have been using it? If we were capable of communicating via the mirror, how much time would you have spent just sitting there on top of Arbiter’s Grounds? Would you have been doing anything else? Would you have spent more time away from that accursed place?”  
  


Twilight opened his mouth to give out a retort, that yes he would have been going back to Ordon village and helping around…

But deep inside himself, Twilight realized that wouldn’t have happened. Ever since the journey, he never felt that he belonged in the quaint village anymore, not with what he had experienced. No one else really understood his fears, his nightmares, his sorrows. Everyone had a hard time during the Twilight invasion, but he was the one who did most of the work driving back the invasion, and it wasn’t a pretty job. He had faced many horrors that no one ever had, so no one could emphasize with him.  
No one except the one person who was his companion the whole time. 

He could definitely imagine cutting himself off from the villagers and the comrades of the Resistance in order to talk with the one person that would understand him as they went through the journey together and shared the same experiences.

“Tell me Link. Would you have jumped through the portal without much thought if you knew what I was doing beforehand? Would you have abandoned everything you cherished in the light realm to chase something that could have not gone well?”  
  


Twilight bit his lip and kept silent because he really couldn’t deny that it would have been something he would have impulsively done. 

“Even if I am the ruler of the Twilight Realm and the people who reside there, there is only so much I could do for you to be happy and healthy. You wouldn’t have been able to go back and see your friends and family anymore. You wouldn’t have been able to see the sun anymore with the perpetual twilight in my realm. My people would have seen you as an outsider, someone who is a part of a race that has caused our ancestors much grief and make us suffer even now with how the mirror had been used. Who knows what would have happened if you, a light dweller, tried to become a permanent resident of the Twilight realm?”

The Twili royalty shook her head. "I could not let that happen. I couldn't let you suffer in that sad fate that was sure to happen had I kept the mirror intact. It was better to never let that happen by dealing with the mirror and have you go back to your own life, no matter how hard it would be. You had more friends and comrades in the light world, more people to support you if you just _let them_.” 

There was a hint of glistening eyes as Midna glanced away. "Good rulers always have to think of others, her subjects, first and foremost; a ruler's happiness and wants will always come last. While you were not my subject, I became to think you as one; one of the precious people I needed to keep safe. Even from themselves. I knew you would have been miserable either way had I left the mirror as is." "It still pains me, to have done what I did that day, but I knew that it was for the best, for both of us."

The chilly evening wind that rustled the green leaves of the forest was the only sound one could hear there as both occupants in the clearing were completely silent.

That silence was broken with a single chuckle that seemed to crack at the end.  
“I really can’t argue with you, can I? Not back then, not even now.” 

Twilight could feel the hotness behind his eyes welling up as he hid them behind his bangs. 

"You really can read me like a book, huh? I can't stand by my case if I can't refute anything you just pointed out."

The hero of Twilight couldn't help it. 

A single tear escaped from his eyes and trailed down his cheek as he continued. "I was absolutely devastated when you had shattered that mirror. I couldn't understand why you had done that, leaving those last words. All this time I had wondered what you were going to say. I used up a lot of my time afterward searching for a way to communicate with you again, either by those 'holes' that you mentioned before or by the mirror itself.

I will admit that I had been getting more distant from everyone in my quest that I chained myself to until someone snapped me out of it."

The ranch hand raised his chin up and gave Midna a watery smile. 

“I now understand where you were coming from. Even though your act out of love had hurt _so much_ , I still thank you, because even I can tell that I would have wasted away if I had clung to the past.”

A small, sad smile appeared on the tall royalty's face. 

"Thank you, Link. and for what it's worth, I apologize for not talking it out with you beforehand. I guess I didn't think that far ahead, how much it would hurt you without saying a proper goodbye."

Midna reached out a hand toward the somber hero.

"And speaking of chains..."

  
Twilight let out a surprised yell that formed into a yelp halfway through as he was suddenly forcefully transformed into his wolf form.  
“Remember when I had said that you became my dog the moment I got you of the cell? That the shackle showed that you were owned by me? Well, it’s long due that I take off that shackle."  
Orange and black energy started crackling around the shackle. With a loud snap, the cold metal cuff that had been on his left paw ever since he woke up the first time as a wolf fell off; the clinking of metal on metal deafening in his ears as it released his paw.

Twilight stared at the now-broken metal cuff that was lying innocently on the ground next to his paw. The slight heaviness that he was used to no longer was clinging onto his left leg. 

It had been one of the things that reminded him of his companion, as she had been the one to free him from his prison.

Even if she wasn't exactly the nicest person around back when they first met. 

For him, it had become a symbol of his partnership with Midna: first as a sign of master and servant, then how much the sassy ruler of the Twilight realm had captured his heart.

Blue eyes followed the broken metal cuff as it was picked up by a black and teal hand. “You aren’t my dog anymore. You are your own person,” she spoke in a quiet voice, full of emotion.

“You shouldn’t be shackled to the past. To me, anymore, Link. Be free, like the wild, proud beast that you are.”

**Author's Note:**

> I now have [a Tumblr account (username 46ammy)](https://46ammy.tumblr.com/) , and I will be posting updates about my fics on there if I go inactive for a while or have something irl happening.  
> If you also want to chat with me, feel free to do so!


End file.
